City Planning Commission

Hurricane Katrina did not wipe New Orleans off the map, but the flooding that followed did enough damage to give its residents and leaders cause to head back to the drawing board. Now the redrafting of city laws governing how and where stores, restaurants, parks, warehouses, hotels, homes, theaters, bars and myriad other structures are built and maintained is...
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The New Orleans City Council rejected Thursday (March 26) the request of a Frenchmen Street restaurant to become a nightclub, likely setting up a legal challenge that could permanently change the way business is conducted on the popular strip of music clubs. Councilmembers voted unanimously to deny Bamboula's bid to have its license changed from a restaurant to a...
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The old Boys Town home on Frenchmen Street could receive a second life if the New Orleans City Council Thursday (March 26) approves plans to redevelop it into a boutique hotel. Developer Hugh Stiel has requested a zoning change that would allow him to convert the former Father Flanagan's Boy's Home, 700 Frenchmen St., into a 19-room hotel with...
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A request by Bamboula's on Frenchmen Street to switch from a restaurant to a bar will likely force the New Orleans City Council to address the proliferation of businesses illegally operating as nightclubs on the popular music strip. The matter is on the agenda for Thursday's (March 26) council meeting. The City Planning Commission failed to reach a consensus on the...
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The tenuous balance between the needs of French Quarter residents and those pushing for further commercial development will be on display Thursday (March 26) as the New Orleans City Council considers plans to convert the Musee Conti Wax Museum into a restaurant. The owners of the museum, the Weil family, have requested that the zoning of the site be changed...
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After three years, dozens of hearings, multiple design revisions, and a lawsuit, the New Orleans City Council finally gave developer Sean Meenan the green light to move forward with his plans to open Café Habana, a Cuban restaurant at the corner of Esplanade Avenue and North Rampart Street. In a 4-2 vote at yesterday's meeting, councilmembers rejected efforts to...
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A decision on whether to allow a $120 million high-rise hotel to go up on a prominent Canal Street corner will likely fall to the City Council after the city's planning commission rejected the plan Tuesday (March 10). Developers Kishore "Mike" Motwani of New Orleans and Wischermann Partners of Minneapolis want to build a 20-story tower at Canal and...
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A controversial, year-old proposal to build a $120 million high-rise hotel on Canal Street will be taken up by the City Planning Commission on Tuesday (March 10). Follow live updates from City Hall here, starting at 1:30 p.m. Opponents advocating for historic preservation of the 1840s buildings on the site are expected to turn out for the hearing. Developers...
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Plans to transform a vacant warehouse off North Broad Avenue into a beer hall and restaurant are moving forward as the developer hopes to play a part in the recent resurgence of the commercial corridor, the Mid-City Messenger reports. Green Coast Enterprises and Tulane University graduate Jacob Landry targeted the building for the Urban South Brewery due to its...
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Plans to redevelop the former site of Blockbuster Video at the corner of Magazine Street and Louisiana Avenue into a CVS pharmacy has been given initial approval by city officials, the Uptown Messenger reports. The City Planning Commission last week approved a conditional use request to combine the separate retail spaces in the mini-strip mall into a single space...
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Plans to convert the Musee Conti Wax Museum in the French Quarter into a restaurant have been rejected by the planning commission as neighborhood groups demanded more residential development in the historic district. The owners of the museum, the Weil family, who are under contract to sell the property, requested Tuesday (Feb. 10) that the zoning of the site be changed...
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The City Planning Commission approved plans by the Pontchartrain Hotel on St. Charles Avenue Tuesday (Feb. 10) to renovate its 106 rooms, convert a rooftop penthouse into a lounge and restore the Silver Whistle coffee shop and restaurant on the first floor, the Uptown Messenger reports. "The Pontchartrain Hotel at 2031 St. Charles Avenue was established in the 1920s...
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A request by Bamboula's to operate as a nightclub instead of a restaurant will move to the New Orleans City Council as the planning commission Tuesday (Feb. 10) failed to reach a majority consensus on the future of the Frenchmen Street operation. Andre Laborde, who owns the property, asked that the permitted designation of the business be changed because it...
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The City Planning Commission will decide the fate Tuesday (Feb. 10) of Frenchmen Street club Bamboula's as it considers a request to change the business' permitted designation from a standard restaurant to a cocktail lounge with live entertainment. The property's owner, Andre Laborde, said it has become increasingly difficult to generate more than 50 percent of their revenue through food...
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The City Planning Commission rejected a proposal by an Uptown bed and breakfast to open a restaurant in the face of neighborhood opposition and fears of "commercial creep," the Uptown Messenger reports. "Built as a private home in 1858, the Magnolia Mansion technically operates as a bed and breakfast, but owner Fouad Zeton told neighbors in December that it...
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Plans to turn the old Boys Town home on Frenchmen Street into a boutique hotel have been temporarily delayed after the developer asked the City Planning Commission on Tuesday (Jan. 28) for more time to finalize their plans and resolve any outstanding issues with their neighbors. Hugh Stiel bought the building at 700 Frenchman St. in 2013 for $2.45...
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The City Planning Commission approved the renaming of several streets in Central City after two recently deceased pastors who led anti-violence campaigns in the neighborhood, the Uptown Messenger reports. LaSalle Street between Earhart and Simon Bolivar Boulevard would be renamed Rev. John Raphael Way and Carondelet Street between Felicity and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard would become Robert C....
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